I know, this information gets overwhelming really fast. However, it is information we need to know about if even just a little because it has and is making a difference in our health and in our children’s health. Please watch this video to get the gist of what’s going on so that you can make some changes and informed choices when you are making purchases for yourself and your family.

Canadian Environmental Health has been studying the impact of toxins on children for the past 30 years and reached the inescapable conclusion: little things matter.

They have discovered that even extremely low levels of toxins can impact brain development.

They have also discovered that subtle shifts in the intellectual abilities of individual children have a big impact on the number of children in a population that are challenged or gifted.

Isn’t someone regulating this stuff?

Let’s just look at one area of products that are used daily by almost everyone, cosmetics and personal care products.

Random tests of lipsticks, at all price ranges, found lead at two to four times the levels permitted by the FDA for candy.

Nail salons and beauty salons (an oxymoron) are another source of over-flowing chemical exposure to the workers and to us. And, those products that either change the shape or color of the hair are at the very top of the most hazardous list. Yet we wonder why our children are born with high levels of toxins in their brains, bodies and suffer from all sorts of emotional and learning disabilities.

A 2005 study found that 87 percent of ingredients have not been assessed for safety by the Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) panel. The CIR is the only body responsible for testing the safety of these products. The FDA does not have the authority to require companies to do safety tests, it can’t even recall personal care products when they’ve been proven to be defective or harmful!

As it turns out, the CIR is funded and run by the cosmetic industry through its trade association, the Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association. Their tests focus on immediate health effects like rashes and swelling. They do not test for long-term effects nor what happens when different chemicals interact with one another when applied or inhaled or when they interact with each other in your body and your genes.

A Good Time to Have an Image Overhaul in Thinking Too

Colbie Caillat, a Grammy songwriter/singer, has a song “Try” that talks about today’s beauty standards. I love the transformations, don’t you?

I love what Australian mom/artist Sonia Singh does to improve the female image, she refashions second-hand dolls which she finds in thrift shops and removes any trace of make-up, reduces their lip and eye size and personally sews the dolls modest new outfits.

Microbeads, the teeny-tiny little beads companies are putting into their products…

“Plastic microbeads are showing up in fish in our food chain. They absorb toxins and pose a risk to human health,” said Connecticut State Rep. Terry Backer. “Tons of plastic beads are currently being flooded into our water courses resulting in millions of unnecessary particles.”

Why would we want our little girls playing with such trashy looking toys? The emotional impact this kind of toy has on little girls must be one which facilitated in getting us into the toxic and unhealthy messes we are in, right? I mean, if one grows up believing that to look like these trashy dolls is something to aspire to then I think that would also mean that marketers of the goods that pollute or brains and bodies have done their job, right?

I see no beauty in those types of things… just a manipulation of minds, young minds.

It’s those kinds of minds, the creator and the createe, who are the ones who I think keep the whole toxic cycle perpetuated through generations.

The self images we each contain must have a reflection on all of our other choices and how we relate and identify with the world around us. Just think about the depths of this makes me realize how enormous a problem we do have and what a challenge it is/will be to restore ourselves to a healthier state of being.

Other Oddities

There are dozens of others: our food and beverages, goods like furniture/appliances/electronic devices/toys manufactured and brought into the home, and textiles (clothing, linens and furnishings).

Flame retardants are now applied to so many textiles without our even knowing it and those flame retardants are terribly toxic.

What Can You Do To Change Things in Your Life and Home

Each time we purchase anything, anything at all… we ARE sending a message to every company and manufacturer, a message of either our approval or disapproval of what they are making for us.

Thank goodness there is a lot of helpful information available to help us easily make changes and that there are activists who push for change in the industry.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) created and maintains ‘Skin Deep‘, a huge database of more than 40,000 products and their ingredients. You can enter the name of many cosmetics and personal care products and find out how they rate and what’s in them. They also have a FREE Skin Deep Mobile App that is surely a great help while we are out shopping and trying to make smart choices.

You can also look for companies that have signed the Compact for Safe Cosmetics, a pledge to replace ingredients linked to cancer, birth defects, and hormone disruption. More than one thousand companies have made the commitment.

An AMAZING resource for understanding what in the world is going on and easy steps you can make to get your home and life cleaned up is Annie Leonard’s site, Story of Stuff, she has the best video’s, podcasts, teaching tools to use at school and at church, that I’ve seen produced – I highly recommend her oh-so-user-friendly site.

What I’ve Done Around My Home and Life

Fortunately, when I was barely a teen I returned home from school one day and turned on the radio, Ralph Nader was being interviewed. The topic was about the chemical pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and preservatives applied to our fruits and vegetables! I couldn’t believe my ears… I had thought, up until that moment, that all grown-up’s and our government were watching over everything for us. They weren’t, or at least they weren’t according to my newly developing standards.

From that day forward I knew I had to be pro-active and so for the past 45 years keeping up on what’s going on has been a worthwhile hobby of mine. I was buying local farm-fresh produce and organic foods as early as 1973. I also stopped using make-up and most personal care products, LOL, that alone also saved me a lot of time and money! I also stopped dying my hair and doing my nails. Sadly though, it’s only gotten worse… all the more reason to have at least some knowledge of what’s happening.

So, what happened when I took responsibility for myself?

Well, for starters my terrible complexion cleared up and for once I finally had beautiful skin! Yes, all of those beauty products causes blemishes and a sallow muddy complexion when I wasn’t in make-up… ooooeeeee, UGLY!

I also found that my natural hair color was far more beautiful and contained a myriad of wonderful colors that allowed my hair to have a depth and silkiness that it never had when I dyed it.Yes, today (see image) I have grey streaks and it looks really cool.

And, I noticed that my hormones stopped going bonkers! Yup, that means I stopped having PMS symptoms –and– it also meant that I didn’t have any menopause symptoms either! Imagine that!

But the most significant thing that occurred was I started liking myself and the way I looked, and I liked who I was and who I was becoming. I liked myself more because I got myself out of that nasty marketing trap of believing we are not beautiful just the way we are. Powerful, huh!? So it was back in the mid 1970’s that I learned what ’empowerment’ meant and I have had it ever since.

In 1985, I switched from conventional brands of household cleaning products to natural products. Then, after years of disappointing results I switched from buying expensive natural cleaning products and personal care products to making my own cleaning products with essential oils in 1990.

I have also used genuine therapeutic essential oils for a million other things with the most significant being that I stopped buying: air fresheners and over-the-counter medications for things like headaches, sore/achy muscles and bones, antiseptics, etc. Getting those toxic cleaners and personal care products out of my home and life absolutely rank right up there as being one of my top 10 smartest things I’ve ever done! You can read some of my favorite recipes here.

One thing that I noticed is that within a few weeks of stopped eating conventionally raised meats and animal products, cheese and milk too… and switched to eating only pasture raised poultry, meats and animal products is that my somewhat mild hormones/mood-swings halted completely! By the time 1985 rolled around I was 100% convinced that the poor conditions and medications the animals were exposed to absolutely made a difference in how my body and brain performed. Besides, grass-raised meats and poultry taste superior to anything else out there, yup, even better than organic. This is my favorite source for grass-raised meats and poultry, and the best source for fresh seafood.

I have, in recent years, met a few women peers who also took it upon themselves to make the same changes I made and they have the exact same stories as I’ve experienced… and none of us have any health conditions nor are we on any medications.

I’m not saying these things to brag… I’m saying them as words of wisdom and inspiration. These changes are not hard to make and they do make the quality of ones life much better. My only wish is that some readers feel so inspired to do what I’ve done so that they too feel empowered and live a life of wellness. Remember, it’s never too late to switch what you’re doing so you can live your change fully.

Leave a comment if you have found ways to decrease your body burden or improve the quality of your life by making changes.

If you like what you’ve read, please share this blog with your friends so they know too.Transparency & Appreciation: I want all of my readers to know that I do provide links on this blog to other businesses that sell products that I use and love, I will never post a link to anything that is inconsistent with my ideology.
When you do click on a link to a business that I have referred you to and you make a purchase, I will earn a small commission – the price to you though is always their regular price, or in some instances a special offer price.
When you do make a purchase you are showing me that you support my efforts, time and expenses… I am very grateful to those who have both chosen to come read what I have written, and at times utilize my referral of a service or product that I completely believe in.
Thank you very much!

Disclaimer:

Regarding Crypto-currencies – I am not a financial adviser or broker. My blog is my own documentation of what I have done and what I think. It is for entertainment and educational purposes only. What you decide to do is your own responsibility, not mine. Please do your own research and draw your own conclusions before making any investments with anyone.

Regarding health and wellness – This site does not provide medical advice. I am not a doctor or health advisor. My purpose is to share experiences and information as I seek to improve the health of my family through a real food and natural lifestyle. Any statements or claims about the possible health benefits conferred by any foods or supplements have not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.